Waiting Game
by Riley Scott
Summary: Buffy Summers never dreamed of being famous. William 'Spike' Ryane had come out of the womb with a spotlight on him. An unplanned meeting between two vastly different souls leads to a love story that makes no sense. Not even to those in love. Inspired by 'Waiting Game' by Banks.
1. Stay

Waiting Game

Riley Scott

Summary: Buffy Summers never dreamed of being famous, she never thought of performing for sold out crowds. All she wanted was to write her own music and lose herself on a dimly lit stage and to reach people. William 'Spike' Ryane had come out of the womb with a spotlight on him. Royal music blood in his veins, he always knew he belonged on a stage in front thousands of screaming fans. An unplanned meeting between two vastly different souls leads to a love story that makes no sense. Not even to those in love. _Inspired by 'Waiting Game' by Banks._

_**10:03PM**_

The sun had long since set. The air was thick with the smell of stale cigarettes and cheap beer. The faint sounds of the docks the next block over competed with the bass of the house music coming from the warehouse club. Buffy Summer made her way down the dimly lit alley, her boots almost silent on the cracked pavement and she moved without worry, she wasn't wasn't concerned about the time. She squeezed past three almost drunk, frat boy wannabe's as she nodded to the bouncer, who barely spared her a glance. His game of Sudoku was more engrossing. The combination of house music and pumping a/c slapped her in the face and gave her bare arms goosebumps as she walked into the club. She tried not to be too off put by the overbearing a/c, knowing she would be grateful for that later on.

As she weaved her way through the tables she nodded at her best friend. The redheaded waitress was working overtime at a table full of college boys, making sure to smile through her annoyance, the tip would be more than worth it.

She made her way over to the bar, giving the area a once over, not seeing the bartender she hoisted herself over the counter and slipped onto the other side. After less than a minute of digging around she found her treasure in the small fridge underneath the sink. Popping the top to the redbull she maneuvered herself back over the bar just as the bartender, Xander came through the swinging door to the kitchen. He looked slightly annoyed when he spotted her, but that could have been from carrying the overflowing ice bucket in his arms. She just smirked at him, holding up her prize and worked her way to the side of the stage. Giving it a quick once over she took a mental inventory of the equipment on stage and checked that off of her list.

_**10:11PM**_

As she shoved her phone back into the hip pocket of her jeans she pulled the curtains beside the stage back and slipped behind them. Walking down the hallway she opened the door to the sole dressing room the club offered. She was the only one to ever use the room, and yet she never liked to call it 'her dressing room'. It made her feel like an asshole. So it was just 'the dressing room', as she walked through the door she flipped on the light and flopped herself down into the rolling office chair that sat in front of the tiny old vanity in the corner. She checked over her makeup and grimaced, reaching down to open the drawer to her left and pulled out a makeup case. She dug around and pulled out her eyeliner and after a few minutes of playing around with her lids she was satisfied. Leaning back in the chair she fluffed her long blonde hair with one hand. Not impressed she used her other hand to dig through the makeup bag and pull out a hair tie. She quickly worked her hair into a messy bun and smiled.

_**10:22PM**_

She stood, her phone now sitting on the vanity as she shimmed out of her jeans and tossed them to the corner, she stood just in her white tank and panties now. She turned to the rack of thrift shop finds and slid the racks around until the found her favorite jeans. She slipped into them and knew she was ready to go on. One last look in the mirror, her knees poking out of the denim that was held together with a few strands and a prayer.

_**10:28PM**_

She stood at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the back of the stage and felt the jolt. It happened every time. The last second stage fright, the blinding panic. She heard someone take the stage beyond the curtains and sighed, climbing the three stairs that lead to the platform. She walked up the edge of the curtains and ran the set list over in her mind. She went through it twice when she heard the squeal of the mic, quickly followed by Xander apologizing to the complaining crowd.

"Every time." She thought with a smile.

One last deep breath as she heard his announcement "Ladies and Gents, please welcome Sunnydale favorite 'Ms. Buffy Summers." and she walked through the curtains, and let Xander's hand squeeze hers as he slid past her to the stairs.

_**10:30PM**_

Buffy stood before the crowd behind the mic, and as she looked out of the small club and saw that it has filled impressively in such a short time. She waved with a smile and then pulled her stool up closer to the mic and sat down, adjusting the stand. She reached behind her and pulled her guitar into her lap, the strap slipping around her back.

"Hey guys, thanks for coming out tonight. Those of you that are regulars know that I'm not much for the talking. And I'm sure that you all aren't here to hear me blather on so I'll just get down to it." Buffy said with a huge smile, her fingers falling into place on the strings as she slowly moved into her first song.

"This song is called 'Stay' and people seem to like it."

She smiled as she heard and few whistles and a quiet smattering of applause throughout the club. After the first few cords she saw a few couples gravitate to the dance floor and then switched into performance mode, her mind drifting.

"_**All along it was a fever  
A cold sweat hot-headed believer  
I threw my hands in the air I said show me something  
He said, if you dare come a little closer**_

Round and around and around and around we go  
Ohhh now tell me now tell me now tell me now you know

Not really sure how to feel about it  
Something in the way you move  
Makes me feel like I can't live without you  
It takes me all the way  
I want you to stay " 

The dance floor was full, Buffy scanned the crowd and smiled to herself. This was her heaven. She never imagined herself some great singer. She had a decent voice, she knew that. But her real talent was in her writing.

_**It's not much of a life you're living  
It's not just something you take, it's given  
Round and around and around and around we go  
Ohhh now tell me now tell me now tell me now you know**_

Not really sure how to feel about it  
Something in the way you move  
Makes me feel like I can't live without you  
It takes me all the way  
I want you to stay

She had been scribbling down song lyrics as far back as she could remember. When she was really young they were basic, nothing special. But as she grew older, and her life brought her so many ups and downs with no other built in way to cope she turned herself even more to music. _****_

Ohhh the reason I hold on  
Ohhh cause I need this hole gone  
Funny you're the broken one but I'm the only one who needed saving  
Cause when you never see the lights it's hard to know which one of us is caving

By the time she had wracked up a few heartbreaks she found herself with dozens of songs, songs that she had no clue what to do with. She knew she didn't have the voice to make a career out of being a performer. But she also knew she could never stand to have her songs sung by someone else. By someone who didn't have the stories in their blood. _****_

Not really sure how to feel about it  
Something in the way you move  
Makes me feel like I can't live without you  
It takes me all the way  
I want you to stay, stay  
I want you to stay, ohhh 

So this was her solution. She came here, to the club that she had grown up in, The Bronze. She performed here 4 nights a week for her friends, family and perfect strangers. She got up on this stage with her guitar, her better than average voice and her songs that came out of pain and growth. It never ceased to amaze her that people showed up every night to see her. The same faces mostly, sometimes new ones, but it didn't really matter to her. All that mattered to her was that she got to do what she loved, and she got to open herself up to people for a 30 minute set and then disappear back into the crowd just like everyone else.

She had every thing she had always wanted.

Well almost everything.

TBC

A/N: This is an idea I have been playing around with for a long time and have finally put it to paper. I am really eager to see if there is any interest, I would love to keep this story going.

Spike will appear soon, but and Spuffy is a ways away, but don't worry, I will make it worth it.

The song Buffy performed is called 'Stay' and was originally performed by Rihanna.


	2. Peace

Her set was over.

The floor was littered with napkins and straws.

Bar stools scattered around.

Tables pushed together.

Pool cues leaning against the wall.

The lights were low and the only sounds around her were from the waitstaff, her best friend included, tossing the empty beer bottles in the trash.

Clink. Clink.

She walked around in a daze. Her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, her hair in a knot on top of her head. She rolled her shoulders and breathed it all in.

This was her favorite part of the night. When everyone left and she was there mostly alone, watching the aftermath of a show. She could still feel the energy, her fingers were still numb from strumming, her voice a little roughened.

She walked around, breathing it all in, the smells of sweat and hot wings. Beer and leather upholstery. Her favorite scents in the whole world.

She would feel guilty for not helping with the clean up, if she thought the expected it of her. But they didn't. She had been at this routine for long enough now that they all knew she needed this to come down. She had just bared her soul to a crowd of (mostly) strangers. She needed to close herself off again until the next performance, and this is how she did it.

The air was cool now. Bordering on chilly and she felt the goosebumps crawl up her bare arms as she exited the club. She let the breeze coming from the docks roll over her and rubbed her arms as she adopted a slow stride. She had a two mile walk home and was in no hurry. She had never held any interest in driving, she had lived in Sunnydale for over a decade, and nothing was more than two or three miles in either direction from her house. Plus, she liked the calm of walking alone. It was when she did her best thinking.

She loved Sunnydale at this time of night. No one around to distract her, nothing but her and the sound of her boots on the pavement. She felt at peace, and that made her smile to herself.

Peace.

At one time in her life she'd thought that wasn't possible for her.

_Her life hadn't been all bad, she had a relatively normal childhood. She came from a moderately well off family. Her father was a successful business man with his own consulting firm and her mother used her art history degree from Oxford to open an Art Gallery. She had one sister, who was seven years younger, just the right amount to be cute and not impugn on Buffy's life too much. Buffy would say she had been a downright perfect little princess for the majority of her childhood. That was until she was 16 and her parents decided to divorce. It wasn't a huge shock for Buffy, or her baby sister Dawn, not really. Their parents had never really been 'madly in love', they had mostly seemed to tolerate each other. Then when their father, Hank, had found someone he tolerated a little more than Joyce he had filed for divorce. At first, Buffy had imagined two summer vacations, two Christmases, two birthdays, two parents competing for her love. That's what happened with her friends anyway, when their parents split up. _

_What she wasn't expecting, however, was for Dawn to be the bargaining tool in the divorce. Child support for Dawn, custody and visitation for Dawn. Dawn, Dawn, Dawn and no Buffy. No meetings, no depositions, nothing. No one was very concerned about who Buffy would be spending Spring Break with. Finally after months of speculating, of wondering if it was simply due to her age, Buffy finally pulled up the courage to ask her mother. Joyce had taken the divorce pretty hard, despite her lack of affection for Hank and had become very fond of vodka. While she took to the post-divorce drunken stupor quite well, the liquor did not give Joyce courage, just dark circles. So it took Buffy confronting her for her to finally spill the beans. _

_That's when Buffy's world officially changed, right there at the dinning room table, in the house with the 'Under Contract' sign in the front yard, the house that Buffy had lived with her Mother, Father and baby sister for 16 years. She sat there, clutching her Prada backpack and watching her Diet Coke lose it's fizz as her mother spilled the whole sorted story. _

_Apparently, Hank Summers was not Buffy's father. _

_When Joyce was 22 and in her last year at Oxford she allowed her friends to drag her out to a concert to celebrate the end of midterms. She got drunk for the very first time in her sheltered life and when her and her friends were invited backstage to 'meet the band' she allowed her friends to drag her there as well. That was when she met Rupert 'Ripper' Giles, the bass player for the hottest punk band in Europe. He was too old for her, he was an addict and had a horrible temper. She was in love. They 'fooled around' for about 2 months when Joyce discovered that she was just one of the many girls that were attracted to the out of control rock star. She finally woke up when she walked in on him sharing a girl with the rest of the band and stopped answering his calls. She was determined to finish her semester and go back home, to forget all about Ripper._

_She thought at first that the constant sickness was the stress of losing Ripper and finals. Her second week home, her best friend forced her to get a pregnancy test. By that point it was too late to 'take care of it' and she couldn't bare the idea of giving her baby up. But telling her parents was also out of the question, as they would disown her, so when her father set her up with his business partners son she agreed. Together they made an arrangement, Hank needed a family to be taken seriously, Joyce needed a husband for her unborn bastard child. They got married three weeks before Buffy was born and no one asked any questions, because no one wanted any answers. _

_Buffy sat there, tears clinging to her lashes, her throat dry and she struggled to find words. Finally after what felt like hours she finally asked, "So, now that the 'arrangement' is done, he doesn't...want me anymore? Deal over?"_

_Joyce looked at her daughter and ached for her. But she also ached for herself and the life that she was losing, the life that she had thought she had wanted. _

"_Yes, Buffy. Deal over." And then she refilled her glass as Buffy slowly got up from the table and left the room. _

Buffy shivered at the memory, she could no longer blame it on the breeze.

_Her life had sucked beyond the telling of it for a while after that. They bounced around for a little while. Her mother couldn't keep the house, the divorce ordered for it to be sold and her allotment from the pre-nup hadn't given her enough to support a family and a house in L.A, so she had tried to make it work in an apartment. Mainly so the girls could stay with their friends and stay in school. And also so Hank could visit Dawn when he wanted. He never asked to see Buffy. Buffy did the normal 'child of divorce' thing and looked and begged for attention and affection wherever she could find it. And where she found it was in the arms of the boy she had been in love with for her entire post-puberty life, Liam 'Angel' O'Conner. He was a senior and the resident 'it boy'. Every girl wanted him, and had him, if the rumors where true. He was a major asshole, this was common knowledge. He used girls like girls used tampons, he got what he needed and once they were all used up he tossed them. _

_But Buffy was broken enough to think she would be the one he kept around, that she could make him love her and stay. So she made that her goal. Getting him interested wasn't a problem, he knew her, she was a cheerleader after all. And she was a virgin, and he loved those most of all. They dated and pawed at each other for a good month and a half before she let him take her to a hotel. One semi-decent roll in the sack and he vanished. Well, vanished as well as a high-school boy could when they walked the same halls everyday. Buffy played every trick she could think of to get him to give her a real chance to keep him happy. All that achieved was making him hate her. And nothing was worse than if Angel hated you. One month to the day of their little escapade, Buffy walked into school to everyone's eyes on her. Her friend Jenny came running up to her, a fake sympathetic look on her face as she held up her phone to show Buffy. At first Buffy was confused, the darkness of the video and the tiny phone screen not making any sense. Then finally it hit her, it was a porn video. A porn video of her, and Angel. Angel had recorded him taking her virginity and when she didn't back off like a good little girl he distributed to the entire school. Just as she started to have a meltdown in the hall, in front of everyone she noticed that the video also had sound. He had added her pleading voice mails to the soundtrack of their sex tape. _

_Her mother talked of pressing charges, Buffy was underage after all, and Angel was technically an adult at 18 years old. But before they could file the charges they realized that the one part of Buffy's body never seen was her face. And according to the school principle Angel had already brought his 'girlfriend' forward to admit that it was her on the tape. And she was 22, and looked remarkably like Buffy. The damage was already done, and while Buffy wanted to stay, if nothing other than to prove to him that he hadn't broken her, Joyce couldn't handle the scandal on top of the divorce._

_So the month before Buffy turned 17 her mother moved her and Dawn to Sunnydale. They had building for lease that was perfect for a small art gallery that Joyce could afford to run on her new net worth and they were still close enough for Hank to send for Dawn. _

Buffy turned on to Revello Drive and slowed her pace even further. She loved this house. It was about half the size of the one they had lived in L.A and only slightly bigger than the apartment, but it was perfect. The three ladies had made it into the perfect little sanctuary over the last 10 years, she loved coming here every night. She knew that it was odd to still live at home at almost 28 years old, but she couldn't imagine leaving. She made more than enough money to live on her own, and she had lived in an apartment on her own in college, but this just felt right. She could see that no lights were on, and figured that Dawn was finally done with her all-nighters. She had been studying so hard lately that Buffy teased her that her head was going to explode.

She walked up the steps to the front porch and walked over to the porch swing and curled up with the ever present blanket. She laid her head back and turned her head out to face the street and closed her eyes.

_Sunnydale had been a blessing for them at first. Dawn had really taken to her new school and Buffy faded into Sunnydale High just the way she wanted. She went from being in the social spotlight at Hemery to having only a handful of friends in Sunnydale and she loved it. She had meet Willow and Xander the first day and they had bonded instantly. Their best friend, Jessie had just moved to Texas and they were missing a third wheel, so they took her in with open arms. She occasionally missed her old social status, and flirted with the idea of putting forth the effort on occasion. She was still California beautiful, with blonde hair, and petite frame and green eyes, so offers where never too far off. _

_One such offer became too tempting one weekend the summer after they arrived in Sunnydale. Xander was grounded and Willow had a family thing so she was solo for the weekend. When Cordelia Chase, Sunnydale's Bee begged Buffy to be her plus one to a frat party Buffy caved. Cordy's usual plus one was in Cancun for the week and Cordy was ordered to bring a blonde. She figured Buffy would be small competition. They were there for only about 45 minutes when Buffy was ready to leave, that is until she meet Parker Abrams. Parker was nice and cute, and he seemed 'oh so over' the whole 'frat boy lifestyle'. He talked to her for hours about poetry and foreign films and things that made Buffy's head spin. She thought at first that she was just tired, from the excitement of her first real party in almost a year, and from the beer that she had been nursing for over an hour. By the time she realized that she wasn't tired, that she was fading and fast, it was too late. The last thing she remembered was Parker asking her where her friend was, if they had a plan for meeting up. _

_She woke up the next morning feeling like she had been run over by a truck. Her tongue was too big for her mouth and she was half dressed on some frat boys bed, Parker was no where to be found. When she found her phone, she saw that Cordy and her mom had tried texting her and calling her dozens of times. When she finally got home Cordy was sitting with her Mom at the same table that Buffy's life had fallen apart at the previous year. Cordy was crying and Joyce was trying to calm her with hot coco. They both rushed her, Cordy begging her to forgive her, they didn't need Buffy to tell them what happened. Her ripped dress and missing shoes was enough. _

_Once again, Joyce tried to file charges, but Parker Abrams didn't exist. He wasn't a frat brother, or a UCSunnydale student and there were no witnesses. _

_After that Buffy sank into a depression that no one could shake her of. Cordelia somehow joined their tight knit group, but the group wasn't the same. Buffy would go weeks without talking, she wouldn't go out, other than to school and to the record store. She would lock herself in her room for hours or days at a time and write. She used that as a release. But she had nothing to do with it, she had pages and pages, notebooks and journals. Words full of pains filled the pages and she had no idea what to do with them. _

_Finally, 3 months after the incident, Joyce sat Buffy down at that horrible table and asked her the one question Buffy never thought she'd hear._

"_Buffy, baby, do you want me to call your father?" At first Buffy panicked, not wanting Hank to see her so weak and broken. Joyce stopped her and cupped her cheek with her palm and started again. "No, baby, do you want me to call your **father,** do you want me to call Rupert?"_

_**3:19AM**_

Buffy looked down at the phone laying on top of her blanket covered lap and sighed. She should get inside and up to bed. She had work in the morning. She stood, the blanket falling back down onto the swing and she stretched, her phone in her hand. It buzzed and she looked down at it.

_**SLEEP**_

She smiled.

_**Night Dad, ily**_

She typed back as she unlocked the door with the key from under the mat. She made her way through the dark quietly, taking the stairs two at a time.

As she lay in bed an hour later, freshly showered and stared at the ceiling she made a mental note to run her new chorus by her Dad in the morning.


	3. Crossing the Divide

_**9:58AM**_

The bells jingled obnoxiously as Buffy's key got stuck in the lock, just like it did every morning. She shut the door behind her and pulled up the shade, flipping the open sign around and she walked further into the shop. She looked it over and smiled, making her way behind the counter. She propped up behind the counter, turning the laptop on and then spun around the turntable set up. She flipped through the in store records, digging for something to play. She finally settled on an instrumental jazz album, wanting to start the day off quietly. She walked through the doorway on the other end of the counter and flipped on the lights.

The Magic Box was the only used bookstore/record shop in Sunnydale. It used to be an old Magic shop, but when the new owner took it over he decided to keep the name, saying that music and a good book was the only real magic in the world.

Buffy couldn't agree more.

Settling onto the bar stool behind the counter she signed into her account on the laptop and starting her morning paperwork. She looked up from her work an hour later when she heard someone come in from the back and toss a set of keys on the counter.

"So, how many hours did you get last night?" Came a soft spoken voice with an upper-crust British accent.

She smiled and laughed lightly.

"Ah, maybe four, five if I'm lucky." She responded, spinning around to watch her Dad clean his glasses with a cloth he pulled from his pack pocket. He looked for a second as though he might scold her, but then he smiled, putting his glasses back in place.

"Hey, you know the drill, I can't sleep after a set." She said, shrugging her shoulders with little concern. She wasn't tired, and concealer did wonders for girl like her.

"I know." His voice even softer than usual. "Just like your father." He smirked, and Buffy caught a glimpse of the man her Mother had loved. He looked at her and his eyes changed, like they always did when she meet his gaze. He was a big old softy when it came to her, and even though they had been in each others lives for many years now, he still couldn't get used to her.

Buffy turned back to her bookkeeping, Watching him shuffle around behind the counter like he always did, hoping to find a way to be useful. Finally he gave up and made his way out to the sales floor, and started working in the stacks. She knew from experience that he would spend most of the day sorting through the LP's and the columns of books. This place was really his home, he had been so in-sync with it ever since he bought it eight years ago. She watched him tinker around while waiting on a few files to transfer and thought back to when he became a part of her life.

_Buffy had resisted at first when Joyce brought up the idea of contacting Rupert. Buffy had never even seen a picture of the guy. Oh, okay that was a lie. She had googled him when she found out about him, but she had never had any sort of contact with him at all. She had done enough research to find out that sometime after she was born, almost a year, he had become too much of a burden on the band and his record company. His addictions had gone too far and he had been 'released' from his contract and from the band. After that he had floated around Europe for a few years, until finally fading from the headlines in the mid-90's. As far as she could tell after that he had gotten clean and had all but vanished. She had no idea what kind of man he was now, and she had no idea if he would even want to know about her. Learning about some love child that had been born in the 80's during his drug addled rock and roll days might not be what he needed in his life. _

_And the last thing Buffy needed or wanted was to be an imposition to another man in her life. But the more she thought about it the more she thought that it would help her to know once and for all. And if it turned out badly, then at least she could get all of her pain and humiliation out while she was already wearing sweatpants to school every day. _

_Joyce found an old address of Rupert's, one that turned out to be for his parents, who were still alive and involved in his life. She sent him a letter and simply asked for him to call her. It took over a month to hear anything but when they did, it went a lot better than could be expected. _

_Apparently Rupert had been told about Buffy through a mutual friend of Joyce and Rupert's about a year Joyce had returned to the states. At that point Rupert was too messed up to do anything about it and when he checked up on them he realized that Joyce had married. Even in his drunken state he could understand that him contacting them would just complicate their lives. He didn't think that was fair considering he had literally nothing to offer them. So, he had went about his life. He thought about them often and hoped the day would come when he could meet Buffy, but he didn't believe he deserved the chance to be her father._

_They conversed on the phone on a weekly basis for about two months, Joyce and Buffy each time. Finally, after getting to know one another a bit, Rupert asked Buffy to come visit him. She was very hesitant, but she had a break coming up at school. So three months into their first conversation, Buffy flew to England to meet her father. Things were very awkward at first, and Buffy thought that it was because he felt obligated and didn't really want her there._

_She quickly realized that he was awkward with everyone. _

_She spent two weeks with him. By the time she was due home Rupert decided that he couldn't be without his daughter again. He moved to California one month later. He relocated to L.A at first. He didn't want to crowd the little family, and he also could only find an open teaching position at UCLA. So his first few years in California were spent teaching music theory at UCLA, which luckily provided a way for Buffy to get a full ride to college when the time came. However, Rupert had been saving for her college education since he had learned of her. He had always planned to send the money on her 18th birthday. Since her college was paid for, he gave her the money for an off campus apartment, since she still felt apprehensive on campus after dark. _

_Buffy spent every spare moment with her father. Making up for lost time, and also honing her talents. When he discovered that her way of coping with her past circumstances he once asked her if she ever thought about writing lyrics. She had laughed at first, she had zero musical talent. She sang pop songs in the shower, that was about it. But once they sat down together one night, her countless notebooks on the floor around them she saw. For the first time she saw the words that she had been writing for almost her entire life were songs. The ones from when she was very young were very simple, just short ones about her parents loveless marriage and her feelings of jealously towards her sister. They got darker and more passionate as she got older. But they were clearly songs. Over the next few months and eventually years, Rupert shows Buffy how to tune her voice and then a guitar followed soon after by a piano. By the time she graduated UCLA with a business degree she had become a new person. She also had a new goal in life. To attend grad school and go into music therapy. _

_**12:48PM**_

Buffy closed the laptop and picked up her store keys, slipping them and her phone in her pocket. "Dad." She called into the stacks, not seeing Rupert. Not getting a response, she knew because he had found something entrancing. "I'm heading out. I'll bring you dinner when I leave the office. Text me if you need anything" She called out loudly as she walked to the front door and winced at the tittering bell.

She walked out into the sun, slipping her sunglasses off the top of her head and onto her eyes. She crossed the street, waiting for a few cars to pass and then walked past the shops on main street. She turned the corner and made her way into an office building and hit the elevator button for the floor marked 'Dr. Summers Suit 202'.

She exited the elevator when it reached her floor and walked through the door of her office. She smiled at Anya as she passed her desk. "My 1 o'clock in there?" She asked politely.

Anya pushed the hold button and put the receiver down with a grimace. "Yeah, and he is a hot mess, let me tell you."

Buffy rolled her eyes and said "Thanks, Ahn." Walking into her office she pulled her sunglasses off and settled into her desk "So, Andrew, how are we doing today?"

A/N : Reviews inspire my muse to pump out chapters faster. Just sayin'.


	4. Chosen

Buffy's week passed by like any other. She went in to open up The Magic Box every morning for her Dad and did the books and then meet with clients in the afternoon. Then, depending on what time she wrapped up her last client she would swing by one of the take out places on Main and then stop by the shop to help her Dad shut down. More often than not, they would lock up and sit around eating and listening to records, Rupert telling the tamer of his band stories. Then she would head home to her Mom and curl up on the couch, watching whatever documentary Joyce had recorded from the History Channel until she either fell asleep with the popcorn/ice cream bowl on her lap, or got up to get ready for her set.

She had an arrangement with The Bronze, she performed Monday and Tuesdays and then closed out the week on Thursdays and Fridays. She never wanted to play on Saturdays, she never felt like it suited her style. She fit in much better with the after work crowd, the college students that were tired of the coffee shop and were out too late for the mall. It was a win/win, Buffy didn't have to cater to a more drunken crowd, and The Bronze had a draw during the slow nights.

It was Saturday morning and she had been laying in bed for hours, staring at the ceiling, replaying her set from the night before in her mind. This was her routine, she had never been a big sleeper. Since she had been a little girl she had run off of 5 or less hours a night and never felt the worse for it. She would come home from a set and lay in bed, sleeping on and off, waking when something from her performance caused her to stir. She could here weekend morning sounds coming from the kitchen downstairs and turned away from the ceiling to check the time.

_**10:24 AM**_

She was due at the Dojo in just over an hour.

Twenty minutes later she was bounding down the stairs, freshly showered and wearing her favorite white tank and gray yoga pants. She pulled her hair into a sloppy half bun while making her way to the kitchen, sliding onto the bar stool beside her 'little' sister and batting her eyes at her mom across the island.

"There are eggs for 3, right?" She asked, her eyes big.

"Dork." Dawn 'coughed' around her fist.

Buffy poked her sister in her side and smiled when her mom rolled her eyes and sat a plate full of scrambled eggs and toasts in front of her. They all ate in a somewhat comfortable silence. This was their ritual. Even with Dawn being basically out of the house, they all still had breakfast together every weekend morning.

"So, what are you girls up to this weekend?" Joyce asked, holding her coffee up to her mouth and blowing the steam away.

Dawn, as usual answered first. "I'm going to some festival thing with Janice tonight in L.A. Then I have a macro-something or other essay that's due by Friday that I'm going to work on tomorrow." She said most of this with her words smothered by ketchup covered eggs. No matter that she was now 5'11 and looked like a model, she still acted like a kid when with her mom and sister.

Buffy snorted at her sister and shrugged around her toast. "I'm not sure actually. I am pretty free after class. Faith is trying to get me to go to the Bronze tonight. Some touring band is in town that she is dying to see. Apparently she saw them in Boston a few years back and they're pretty badass. But I'm kind of Bronzed out for the moment." Buffy walked over to the sink, washing her crumbs away and bent down to open the dishwasher and put her plate and silverware away.

"A touring band? From L.A?" Her mom asked as she poured herself more coffee and glared at Dawn, who had just dropped her fork for the third time.

"Um, nah, I actually think their from overseas. France, or London maybe? I dunno, somewhere with accents I'm sure. You know Faith and accents. I might go, it would be nice to see something other than the Dingoes for once. We'll see." She wiped her hands on a dish towel that hung from the oven and walked over to kiss her mom's cheek and walked by Dawn to pull her hair.

"I'm heading to class. I'll text you later to let you know if I won't be back tonight." Buffy said as she grabbed her gym bag off the back of the bar stool where it hung most days. "Don't die." She mouthed to her sister and mimed a kiss to her mom as she headed out of the back door.

_**11:26 AM**_

Walking into 'Chosen' was always one of the highlights to Buffy's week.

_She had been there when Faith first opened the doors, and had been teaching a class every Saturday since then. She had been here when it started as a tiny little dojo that was infrequently attended by soccer moms that wanted to look like Hilary Swank and quickly stopped coming when they realized that they actually have to sweat. There monthly dues did help to grow the place though. In the last three years it had grown into a very respectable martial arts studio and defense center. That was owned by a woman. _

_Faith couldn't be more proud of that fact. _

_She had come from Boston to California when she was 19. All she seemed to do there was get into trouble. She had grown up in foster care and had been in and out of jail since she was 13. She had a really rough time of it, so when she finally served the last day of her parole for beating the hell out of some guy that assaulted one of her foster sisters she had caught the first bus leaving the east coast. She stopped a few places along the way, working small under the table jobs to pay her way. It had taken her almost 6 months to get to L.A and when she did she realized that she would get into just as much trouble there as in Boston. So she tried her luck one last time and caught the first bus leaving L.A. That bus landed her in Sunnydale. Lucky for her Giles had just bought the Magic Box and desperately needed someone to help him set it up and get things up and running while he finished out his contract with UCLA. He offered her room and board with a small stipend for her keeping an eye on the place during the week and then paid her an hourly wage for her helping him acquiring inventory on the weekend. She wasn't an expert on vintage books and music by any means, but she wasn't afraid of hard work and had the strength of 3 guys her age, so she was very helpful to the cause. She also learned quickly, which came in handy for the both of them, as he taught her the ends and outs of running a small business. _

_She lived in the tiny office/turned apartment in the back of the store, past the stock room. During her off time, which was most of the week, Giles allowed her to turn the unused stock room into a training room. She ate dinner most night at the Summer's household, since Dawn was busy with her friends and school work, and Buffy was living in L.A and going to school, Joyce adored the company. So she used her unneeded stipend to pay for training equipment to fill the stock room. After about a year of her work the room was finished. Yoga mats lined the floor, punching bags hung in the corner, and there was even a wall to wall mirror and free weights. _

_Buffy and Faith quickly bonded during Buffy's downtime from school. Most of her friends were away at school, having chose to go out state and while Buffy had music as a mental release, she found training to lift that fear of being to weak to defend herself. Together the girls honed their skills and cemented their friendship. By the time Buffy finished college and starting looking to open her practice Faith has saved enough money to open a business of her own. When Faith asked Buffy to donate her services to victims of abuse on the weekends Buffy didn't even have to think about it. So every Saturday afternoon at noon Buffy taught a self defense course for all ages, anyone who had been affected by some sort of physical or sexual abuse. She knew better than anyone that learning the skills to protect yourself went a long way in the healing process. _

"Sup, B." Faith said, her smirk reaching her eyes. She was doing her morning checks, making sure all of the equipment was ready for the days classes. She ran her pen down the sheet attached to her clipboard, and looked up at Buffy through her lashes. "You're not bailing on the band tonight, right? I really need a night out. As do you my uptight princess."

Buffy laughed, "I don't know. You and some out of town guys could get me into trouble."

"I'll take that as a yes." Faith yelled behind her as she walked over to turn on the lights and overhead music.


End file.
